EBay is launching a new classifieds site, which is designed "to re-energize its classifieds business during a time when it is under attack," according to The New York Times' Bits blog. The company's existing classifieds site Kijiji has been a success in other countries, like Canada and Australia, and thus will remain unchanged abroad. Stateside, however, Kijiji has never legitimately challenged Craigslist. In February, Kijiji had two million visitors, while Craigslist had 4.5 million, according to Compete. EBay is also releasing two new mobile apps -- one for listing and selling items for sale, and one for …

Citing unnamed sources, The Wall Street Journal suggests that Apple will challenge its myriad rivals -- from Google to RIM -- with a Verizon-supported iPhone. "Apple Inc. plans to begin producing this year a new iPhone that could allow U.S. phone carriers other than AT&T Inc. to sell the iconic gadget," reports The Journal. Yet, "We've heard tons of rumors about 4G Verizon iPhones and incorrect predictions of when Apple would drop AT&T-iPhone exclusivity, and the result is that the iPhone is still only on the AT&T network in the U.S.," writes Mashable.

Google now plans to bundle its Chrome browser and OS with Adobe's Flash, sources tell ZDNet's Between The Lines. The development, expected to be announced on Tuesday, "is an interesting wrinkle ahead of the launch of Apple's iPad, which famously doesn't include Flash," the blog notes. "If Google is bundling Chrome and Flash in a deeper partnership it could indicate that the two parties are drawing a line in the sand against Apple." Chrome already works with Flash, but the new partnership could include future versions of the Chrome browser, or may focus on Google's Chrome operating …

In its latest effort to battle content thieves, the UK branch of Warner Bros. is hiring "IT literate" students to spy on the so-called "torrenting world." "During the 12 month internship, duties will include: monitoring local Internet forums and IRC for pirated WB and NBCU content and in order to gather information on pirate sites, pirate groups and other pirate activities," reads the job description distributed to The University of Manchester. Gizmodo compares would-be participants to computer savvy Judas's, and warns: "You (could) have, literally, the entire, worldwide community of pirates pissed at you." "Torrenting" is short …

Quara, a startup founded by ex-Facebook employees, has closed a first round of funding led by Benchmark Capital. A source tells TechCrunch that they've raised $11 million at a valuation of $86 million. Founded in June 2008, Quora launched a private invite-only beta earlier this year. Quora is a network of questions and answers created, edited, and organized by its community. "To get in you have to convince a current user to use one of their ten invitations on you," writes TechCrunch. "It's one of the hottest private beta tickets in town ... And for a question …

Can Brightcove resolve the discord between Flash-loving publishers and the Flash-hating Apple? At least in the case of The New York Times and Time magazine, whose multimedia offerings will now be compatible with Apple's iPad thanks to Brightcove. The online video platform says its new Brightcove Experience for HTML5 -- a framework for publishing and delivering interactive and advertising-supported Web video -- can now replace Adobe Flash video on publishers' Web sites. The platform is available free to Brightcove's more than 1,000 customers worldwide. Last week, it was revealed that CBS was testing HTML5 for video playback …

Thanks to strong pre-order rates, Apple's manufacturing partners now expect to ship 2.5 million iPads between March and May -- considerably more than the previous estimate of 750,000 -- according to Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty. As a result, the device's suppliers are already increasing their build rates in expectation of the strong sales. In addition, they're now forecasting shipments of 8-10 million iPads in calendar 2010 -- considerably more than prior expectations of about 5 million, Digital Daily notes. "Current Street consensus is for Apple to sell 3-4 million iPads, but Huberty figures the company will …

Following the successful roll out of Office 2010, Microsoft remains the reigning king of software and computing applications. Still, Google and other rivals seem undeterred, and continue to build on their own successes amid the current app renaissance. "Microsoft Corp. has vanquished most competitors to its Office suite of software," reports The Wall Street Journal. "But a new version of the popular program will be challenged by free or low-cost Web-based alternatives from Google Inc., which some businesses are adopting." Most companies that spoke to The Journal said they never seriously …

Sources tell CNet that AOL has been in talks with Project Playlist about potentially funding the music service. "Whether or not those talks with AOL yielded anything is unclear, but music industry sources said AOL kicked the tires," it reports. Reached by email, Project Playlist founder Jeremy Rimer had no comment. A few years ago, the service was being eyed as a potential challenger to other ad-supported music services like MySpace Music and Imeem. Owen Van Natta helmed the company for five months, before defecting to MySpace. Complicating matters, two of the four major recording companies filed …

Dubbed Vector, the site's new theme is "much more pleasing to the eye than the current design, but is also more ergonomic and focuses on several things that should make the site easier to use," reports Softpedia. The new theme is expected to roll out next month. The revamp is all part of a "usability and user experience program," according to the Wikimedia Foundation User Experience team. The so-called Vector theme has been in beta for an extended period, during which times roughly 500,000 people experimented with the new site. According to Wikimedia, 80% of those …